Game apparatus



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1'.

J. B. LADD. GAME APPARATUS.

No. 578,492. Patented Man 9, 1897.

wnuzssas: A dwm ATTORNEY.

we mums Perms co. PNOTQUi'MDq WASHINGTON u c (No Model.) 1 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

J. B. LADD,

GAME APPARATUS.

N 573,491 Patented Mar. 9, 1897.

WITNESSES: I INVENTOR MQZZw/b I ATTORNEY.

UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICE.

JAMES B. LADD, OF ROLAND PARK, MARYLAND.

GAM E APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 578,492, dated March 9, 1897.

Application filed October 13, 1896. Serial No. 608,717. (No model.) a

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JAMES B. LADD, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Roland Park, in the county of Baltimore and State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Game Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an apparatus designed to facilitate the playing of a game of cards. 1

The object of the invention is to enable the various hands which are dealt in the playing of the game to be kept separate and distinct from one another and yet retained in the same relation to one another, so that at some future played again by other parties.

The device is generally employed in playing the game known as duplicate whist, and in the form illustrated in the drawings consists of four receptacles for containing the four hands into which the pack of cards is divided when dealing for whist. In playing the game of duplicate whist it is necessary that the hands when dealt and played shall subsequently be retained intact and in the same relation in which they were originally dealt to be used again, that is to say, the first pack of cards is dealt in four hands and played, the hands being kept separate. For the second hands asecond pack of cards is dealt and played, the hands being kept separate, and so on through four or any number of packs. When all the packs in use have been played, the first pack or any other pack is again resorted to and played again, the hands having been moved forward from right to left one player, so that now each player plays a hand first played by an adversary. In the succeeding hand another pack is used in the same Way, and so on through the whole number employed.

The purpose of my invention is to provide a casein which the cards may be placed and retained in a permanent and compact form and in which the distribution and rotation of the hands may be accomplished with ease and accuracy. The case which I employ for whist consists of four cases, each of a size suitable to contain one-fourth of a pack of cards secured together by means of a pivotal fastening, the pivot being so constructed as period the same hands may be to permit rotation of one case upon the one immediately below it in one direction only from its initial or closed position, that is to say, in the direction in which the deal travels or that of the motion of the hands of a watch. This arrangement will permit the three upper cases to be turned ninety degrees, the two uppermost cases one hundred and eighty degrees, and the top case two hundred and seventy degrees.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of my box made of cardboard and having the four parts joined together by three pivots or fastening devices. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the case filled with cards and closed. Fig. 3 represents the same case with its locking-flap open and turned back below it and the first box rotated ninety degrees upon the second. Fig. 4 shows the same device with the first and second boxes rotated ninety degrees farther upon the third. Fig.

5 shows the same with the first, second, and third boxes rotated ninety degrees farther upon the fourth. Fig. fiisaperspective View of the joint between the boxes when the boxes are in parallel position. Fig. 7 shows the same when the boxes are at right angles. Fig. 8 is a vertical section of Fig. 6, showing the location of the plates and tongues forming the boxes. Fig. 9 is a plan of the pivotal fastening device. From Fig. 5 it will be seen that each hand now points to a player.

The details of construction of my case are comparatively immaterial, but they will now be described.

Referring to Fig. 1, a piece of cardboard about the width of the playing-card'is folded into five segments, which the numbers 5, 6, 7, 8, andv 9. Segments 6 and 8 have lateral flanges 10 10 and 11 11. Those on the side of 6 are marked 10 10 and those on the side of 8 are marked 11 11. The panels 6 and 8 are each perforated with acir- 5 cular hole 12 and 13. The cardboard is then folded so as to form the shape shown in Fig.

1, and when the panels 5 and 9 are folded down upon the panels 6 and 8 and 6 and 8 folded together a box will be formed having overla ping sides 10 and 11. These may be secui g together by paste or otherwise. The panel 8 is made somewhat shorter than the panel 6 andthe side flanges 1O 10 and 11 11 are designated by 0 are beveled at their upper corners, so as to correspond with the difference in length of the panels 6 and 8, thus presenting the edges of the cards when placed in the box above the edge of the panel 8, so that they may be easily introduced. In the top edge of the panels 5 and 6 a notch is cut, so that the cards may be readily taken hold of.

The whist-boxis made of four parts, similar in shape to the one just described, with the exception that the first and fourth boxes have one side only perforated with a circular aperture, while the fourth box has three pan- ..els and a tuck-in flap. The pivotal device, by which the boxes are secured together, is illustrated in Figs. 6, '7, 8, and 9, but many other ways of pivoting the boxes together may be used.

Referring particularly to Fig. 9, the circular apertures in the adjacent panels of the boxes are provided with inwardly-projecting tongues 14 14 14, located one hundred and twenty degrees apart and being fifteen degrees wide. In constructing these pivotal joints they may either be made of the same material of which the case is constructed, that is to say, they may be cut out of cardboard or they may be made of thin metal or other sufficiently-strong material and interposed within the boxes. This would, of course, be a more durable method of construction. If a horizontal line be drawn through the center of Fig. 9, as 15 15, one of the fingers should be constructed so that its upper side would be radial to the circle of the aperture and upon the horizontal axis 15 15. Then laying off fifteen degrees for the width of the tongue 14, then ninety degrees for its arc of motion, then fifteen degrees for the interlocking tongue of the other box, then fifteen degrees for the next tongue 14, then ninety degrees for the next arc of motion, then fifteen degrees for the next interlocking tongue, then fifteen degrees for the third tongue 14, then ninety degrees for the third are of motion, and then fifteen degrees for the next interlocking tongue.

For making the pivotal fastening devices a single die may be used to out both the pieces to form the pivot. These pieces when turned back to back will cause the left-hand tongue 14 of the reversed piece to occupy a position above the line 15 15 identical with its position (shown in Fig. 9) below the line, and the two pieces will fit together. If the cardboard alone be used, the tongues would not have sufficient strength to hold the boxes in place, and it would be desirable when the tongues 14 14 are turned over through the apertures of the panels to secure upon their surface when folded down another piece of cardboard,which will hold them in position. This should be a round piece located concentrically wit-h the aperture.

When two pieces of card or metal constructed as shown in Fig. 9 are placed to- 1 gether, the tongues being located one in position shown in Fig. 9 and one in a corresponding reverse position to Fig. 9 back to back, the tongues of each piece of material may be bent through the aperture of the other piece and down upon the face of the other piece, in which position it will be seen that one of the pieces may rotate upon the other through an angle of ninety degrees in one direction only from the initial or starting position.

Onev of the important features of my form of pivotal fastening device consists in the fact that the apertures in the adjacent panels are made as large as is conveniently possible, so that the point of the attachment of the boxes to one another may be as near the edges of the box as possible and hold the boxes tightly together and prevent their being pulled apart by the spring of the panels. I prefer the form of box in which two pieces of thin sheet-tin, cut as shown in Fig. 9 and having an aperture identical in size with the apertures in the side panels of the boxes, are placed within two boxes, and the tongues 14 14 and 16 16 are bent through the apertures of each piece and through the apertures of the side panels of the boxes and clenched down on the inside of said panels of the boxes. This will form a durable and secure fastening by which the boxes may be held tightly together, while at the same time permitting a pivotal motion of ninety degrees in one direction only from the initial or starting position.

It will be observed that the form of structure which I have indicated in this application is not essential to the employment of my invention, which consists of a series of devices pivotally united to one another and capable of rotation one upon the other. If this device be employed for such a game, for instance, as seven-handed euchre, it would be necessary to have seven boxes and to arrange the pivot so as to make one-seventh of a revolution for each box. This would distribute the hands evenly in seven different positions and with the rotation of the hands would bring them successively to each player.

The flap or cover 17 of the bottom box serves two important functions: It closes the boxes, so that after a hand has been played it may be sealed, and the hands are then secure against tampering until they are needed to be used again. When it is tucked into the top box, the width of it being just sufficient to enter the box, it serves to prevent the rotation of the boxes upon one another when they are being handled. The panels 5 and 9, when the box is formed, cover the pivotal devices and make the interior of the box smooth for the insertion of the cards. In the whistboxes it is usual to make the top box with some indication of direction, such as an arrow or the letter N, indicating its location on the table relative to the players. The second box or any other that may be arbitrarily selected is marked with the word Leader, and the back of the box is generally provided with a number, so as to distinguish the This, however, is a part of nothing to do with my inbox from others. the game and has vention.

In my invention the cases are closed at all points except at one end and are pivoted upon one another bya pivotal device which is central of a square formed by the bottom and two sides of each box, and the pivots are pro vided with stops by which the rotation of the boxes is limited to motion in one direction only from their initial position and adapted when rotated to present their open ends in four different directions ninety degrees apart.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a game apparatus, the combination of a number of cases arranged one above the other and connected together by centrallylocated pivotal fastening devices, substantially as described.

2. In a game apparatus, the combination of a number of cases arranged one above the other each having one end only open, and connected together by centrally-located pivotal fastening devices, substantially as described.

3. In a game apparatus, the combination of a number of cases arranged one above the other and connected together by centrallylocated pivotal fastening devices, said devices being provided with stops limiting the rotation of the boxes from their initial position to motion in but one direction, substantially as described.

4. In a game apparatus, the combination of a number of cases arranged one above the other-and connected together by centrallylocated pivotal fastening devices, said devices I being provided with stops limiting the rotalow it.

5. In a game apparatus, the combination of a number of cases arranged one above the other and connected together by pivotal fastening devices, upon Which they may be rotated in parallel planes and fitted with a single flap or cover arranged to close all the boxes and to prevent their rotation relative to each other when so closed.

6. In a game apparatus, the combination of a number of cases arranged one above the other and connected together bya pivotal fastening device formed of two flat pieces with circular apertures in which are two or more radial projections, so proportioned and spaced that when bent through the apertures of the adjacent pieces, these radial projections will secure the cases together, but leave them free to be rotated around their centers as axes through a predetermined angle.

7. In a game apparatus, the combination of four cases superimposed upon one another and secured together by a centrally-located pivotal fastening device, substantially as described, each of the three upper cases adapted to rotate upon its pivot ninety degrees, the lower boxes carrying those above them as they rotate through their prescribed angle.

8. In a game apparatus, the combination of several boxes secured together by pivotal.

joints, the adjacent walls of the two boxes being provided with coincident circular apertures and supplemental sheets of suitably stilt material, each provided with a similar coincident circular aperture and inwardly-projecting tongues, said tongues being bent in opposite directions through the apertures in adjacent sides of the boxes and clenched thereon, substantially as described.

Signed at Baltimore city and State of Maryland this 12thday of October, A. D. 1896.

JAMES B. LADD.

Witnesses:

J. HENRY STROHMEYER, M. G. STEUART. 

